Graduate Students

Myrzinn Boucher-Durand

Before coming to Harvard Myrzinn began an MPhil in Medieval Celtic languages and has earned an Mphil in Celtic Studies from the University of Western Brittany (Brest) in 2017, as well as a BA in Breton and Celtic from the University of Rennes II, taught through the medium of Breton, in 2014, which also included a year abroad at the NUI Galway. Her current research interests are in Old and Middle Breton.

Colin received his BA and his MA in history at University College Dublin. Before coming to Harvard he also took classes in Old Irish at Maynooth University. His primary research interest is the memory of early medieval Ireland; how it has been reconstructed and transmitted, and how it has informed contemporary identities and politics in subsequent periods. 

Dylan R. Cooper

Dylan has a double BA in Celtic Studies and Linguistics from the University of California, Berkeley and an MA in Medieval Studies from the University of Galway. She has been a lecturer in the Celtic Studies program at UC Berkeley, teaching modern Irish and Irish literature.

Her main research interests include medieval code-switching, sociolinguistics, comparative Celtic linguistics, and the Ulster Cycle.

Email: dcooper@g.harvard.edu

Elizabeth Gipson

Before coming to Harvard, Elizabeth earned a BA in Celtic Studies from the University of California, Berkeley. Afterwards, she traveled to Ireland where she earned an MPhil in Medieval Language, Literature, and Culture, with a thesis focused on the language of love in the Old English St Margaret tradition.

Elizabeth’s research interests include the St Brendan legend, Irish and Welsh board games, and bird lore.

Rachel Martin

Rachel Martin received her BA in Humanities from Florida Institute of Technology in 2018 and, from there, went on to do a MA in Celtic Civilisation at University College Cork from 2019-2020. At University College Cork, her work focused on tracing the origins and developments of the Fir Bolg, one of the pseudohistorical invaders of Ireland. Her current research mainly focuses on the Mythological Cycle, specifically focusing on Cath Maige Tuired and its associated texts, as well as depictions of alterity in both medieval Irish literature and modern adaptations of medieval Irish literature, with a focus on queer, feminist, and postcolonial readings. Additional research interests include supernatural figures in Irish folklore, Gráinne ní Mháille, and the Fourth Branch of the Mabinogi. She can be reached at rmartin@g.harvard.edu

Patrick McCoy

Patrick is a PhD candidate in the Department of Celtic Languages & Literatures. Originally from Fairborn, Ohio, he received his BA in Medieval Studies and Classics—with a minor in Irish Language & Literature—from the University of Notre Dame. As an undergraduate, he studied abroad during his junior year at Trinity College, Dublin and interned at the Royal Irish Academy, working on the Dictionary of Medieval Latin from Celtic Sources and assisting (although quite briefly) with the St. Patrick’s Confessio Hypertext Stack Project (www.confessio.ie). He returned to Trinity as a postgraduate student, earning a Postgraduate Diploma in Old Irish and an MPhil in Early Irish. Patrick is also an Eagle Scout.

Patrick’s dissertation topic examines the non-geographic use of place in Early Irish literature, focusing specifically on Greece. His other research interests include medieval Irish language and literature, historical linguistics, and heroic literature. As a teaching fellow/teaching assistant, Patrick has taught for courses in the departments of Celtic, English,  General Education and in the Harvard Extension School. This year he is also a Media & Design Fellow at the Bok Center for Teaching & Learning. Email: pmccoy@fas.harvard.edu

Heather Newton

Heather earned her BA from the University of California, Berkeley in 2014 with majors in English and Celtic Studies. She has done language study through the the National University of Ireland, Galway. Her current research focuses on medieval Irish heroic literature and comparisons with medieval Norse sagas.

Oisín Ó Muirthile

Before coming to Harvard, he received his B.A. in Early and Modern Irish from Trinity College Dublin. During his undergraduate degree, he spent a year in Philipps-Universität Marburg, Germany, studying Celtic Studies and Indo-European historical linguistics, where he developed a keen interest in comparative philology. His current research interests include the development of the Early Irish verbal system, comparative Indo-European and Celtic linguistics, Modern Irish translation and the future of the Gaelic languages in the modern era. Email: oisinomuirthile@g.harvard.edu

Graham O' Toole

 Graham earned a BA in Classics from the University of Colorado at Boulder in 2014 and an MA in Medieval Studies from the University of Connecticut in 2018. At the University of Connecticut, Graham began learning Old Irish and started focusing on Celtic materials, with an emphasis on the economic history of Ireland and the historical context of Acallam na Senórach. His primary research interests include dinnṡenchas material in Irish literature, the Fenian Cycle, the economic history of medieval Ireland, and the perception of native Irish people on the coming of the Normans. Graham also has begun to engage in Digital Humanities projects, including early work on an interactive map of dinnṡenchas. Outside of academia, Graham enjoys watching and playing soccer, birdwatching, and playing Dungeons and Dragons.

Shannon Rose Parker

Shannon graduated from Aberystwyth University in 2017 with a BA in Celtic Studies taught through the medium of Welsh, learning Welsh from beginner to fluent and gaining a foundation in Middle Welsh, Irish and Old Irish. During her undergraduate degree, Shannon also spent a semester abroad in Trinity College Dublin studying Early Irish. Learning Scottish Gaelic to fluency during her AM in Celtic Literatures and Languages at Harvard, (completed in 2019), Shannon’s dissertation explores British identity in eighteenth-century Welsh- and Scottish Gaelic-language poetry. Interested in researching a broad range of time periods, Shannon has also published on medieval Welsh poetry and prose, Scottish Gaelic poetry from the eighteenth century and Welsh poetry from the eighteenth century. Current additional research projects include the work of contemporary author Angharad Price, twelfth-century poet Cynddelw Brydydd Mawr, and music in the medieval prose tales, The Mabinogi. Shannon is also engaged in writing a textbook for the Welsh courses at Harvard and a translation of Jerry Hunter’s novel, Safana.

Email: Shannon_parker@g.harvard.edu

Samuel Puopolo

Samuel received his B.A. in Classics from Harvard University in 2020. During his undergraduate degree, he took Modern Welsh where he developed a keen interest in Welsh poetry. His current research interests include intertextuality in Welsh poetry from c.1100-1600, Medieval Welsh prose tales, Arthurian literature, and the Ulster Cycle. Outside of his work, Sam enjoys reading other languages, movies, and music. Email: spuopolo@g.harvard.edu.

Joe Shack

Before coming to Harvard, Joseph earned his B.A. in History and English Literature at New York University. Following his undergraduate education, Joseph traveled to England where he earned an M.A. in Medieval Studies at the University of York in 2014, where his dissertation examined the postcolonial resonances embedded in the Mabinogi's presentation of Otherworld. The following year he completed an M.A. in Welsh and Celtic Studies at Cardiff University, with his final research project focusing on the counter-discursivity inherent in the Arthurian world of Peredur. Joseph's research interests include the utilization of the Matter of Britain in regard to identity formation in the British Isles, applying post-colonial theory to medieval literature, geocriticism, particularly in regard the use of landscape in middle Welsh prose, and Celtic influence on Arthurian literature.

Nicholas Thyr

Nicholas previously spent a year at the University of Cambridge, receiving an MPhil from the department of Anglo-Saxon, Norse, and Celtic. His interests lie mostly in medieval Irish literature, both early (Fingal Rónáin, Bethu Brigte) and late (the poetry of Tadhg Dall Ó hUiginn). Outside of scholarly pursuits, favorite pastimes include puns, walking, and arguing about the weather.

Jo D'Ambrosio Wolf

Rory O’Malley Yarter